WHEN THE PUMPKINS ROLL INTO TOWN, right around Half Moon Bay, which happens to be the Pumpkiniest Place on Earth, seeing as it rocks the handle "World Pumpkin Capital," you can bet they'll land just about everywhere, proverbially. Absolutely, you're going to see plenty of pumpkins at the Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival, which will unfurl along Main Street on Saturday, Oct. 14 and Sunday, Oct. 15. You'll spy other signs of stem-topped sweetness in the area, and stem-topped size-ability, too, when The Safeway World Championship Weigh-off gathers together some truly giganto gourds a few days ahead of the festival. And in the local eateries? It isn't all that strange to see some squash action when it comes to whats on the plates and in the glasses. Consider that Half Moon Bay Brewing Company regularly gets into the gourdly swing o' things when the first full month of autumn arrives, with an all-October-long...
PUMPKIN MENU: Not many brewhouses around the nation give way, over a number of weeks, to a seedy, pulpy, carveable fruit, but this opened-in-2000 favorite does. Prepare to dig into Chef Fred Godinez's pumpkin-tastic specialties like butternut squash soup or a Brussels sprouts salad topped with pumpkin vinaigrette during your October 2017 visit. Have a sweeter tooth? There's pumpkin ice cream. Have a foamier tooth? There is the brewery's Pumpkin Harvest Ale, a "...full-bodied Amber Ale..." that's "...made with locally grown Sugar Pie pumpkins that are roasted with a secret blend of spices added to the brew kettle, resulting in a subtle pumpkin pie spice flavor balanced by biscuity maltiness." Fall is on the wind, foamy fall adult beverages are, too, and, in a town right by the ocean, pumpkins will soon rule, both in competitions and on the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company's seasonal menu, too.
